Solar Updraft Tower

April 25, 2018

Josiah Burrell, Russel English, Mikolaj Pal, Luke

Petersen

ENG1102, Professor Mir Sadri-Sabet, Section 1, Team 8

e: updrafttowerproject@cleanenergy.com
Outline

❖ Introduction
❖ Design
❖ Power Calculation
❖ Hazard Analysis
❖ Matlab Simulation
❖ Financial Analysis
❖ Conclusions
❖ Questions
Introduction

❖ Emerged from a need for clean, affordable energy

❖ Solar Updraft Tower
➢ Wind turbine
■ Powered by difference in air temperature
❖ High efficiency and run time
➢ Operational 22 hours or more per day
Design

❖ Goal: Maximize operating time of solar updraft tower

❖ Basic Tower Design Features
➢ 12 turbine generators at base of tower
➢ Heat storage
■ Recycled crushed rock
■ Geothermal heating during night
❖ Tower dimensions
➢ 12 turbines with 6 m blade radius
➢ 1870 m collection base radius
➢ 2700 Acre collection base
➢ 750 m tall
➢ 90 m base

[1]
Design
Power Calculation

❖ Power Calculated using theoretical wind speed data

➢ Assume same wind speed for each day of the month
■ Excel Spreadsheet
➢ 12 generator with 6 meter blade radius
❖ Gross Income ($0.12 per Kw-hr)
➢ Gross yearly income per turbine: $731,103.29
➢ Gross income with 12 turbines: $8,773,239.47
Hazard Analysis
MatLab Simulation

❖ Refines the wind speed data (Removes outliers)

❖ Calculates:
➢ Power produced per hour
➢ Power produced per month
➢ Accumulative power
➢ Accumulative Income
➢ Can account for wind speed and temperature cutoff
MatLab Simulation

Total Income: ~$730,000 Per Year Per turbine

(Assuming 7.2% downtime)

 Finances

❖ Cost: Approximately $90M USD

➢ Able to be offset by tax credits and subsidies
❖ Time to pay off: 10.5 years at an average of $.12/kWh
❖ Yearly ROI over 24 years: 3.6%
❖ Average inflation : 3.22% (last 30 years)
❖ Real Yearly ROI: 0.38% [1]
Conclusion

❖ Demand for energy continues to grow

➢ Fossil fuels being depleted
❖ SUTs are clean, efficient, and long-running
❖ Most hazards are easily mitigated with
regular maintenance
❖ Current costs don’t add up
➢ Alleviated by future technological
developments and government subsidies
Questions?
 References

Title Slide Disclaimer: Email is not real

Slide 2: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/04/140416-solar-updraft-towers-convert-hot-air-to-energy/
Slide 3: http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/teaser_image_5.jpg
http://www.solaripedia.com/images/large/5041.jpg
Slide 4: NX model designed by our team
Slide 5: NX model designed by our team
Slide 9: Figure is from MATLAB simulation written by our team
Slide 10: https://www.theengineer.co.uk/issues/the-student-engineer/how-i-went-from-engineering-summer-school-to-designing-solar-chimneys/
Slide 11: http://awk.null2.net/system/attachments/contents/36/background/xlarge_Hintergrundbild_Sonnenuntergang.jpg?1317391957

Bibliography:
[1] Architecture.mit.edu. (2013). Solar Updraft Tower. [online] Available at:

https://architecture.mit.edu/sites/architecture.mit.edu/files/attachments/lecture/SolarUpdraftTower_Project.pdf
[Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].
[2] T. McMahon, "Long Term U.S. Inflation," 1 April 2014. [Online]. Available:
https://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/Long_Term_Inflation.asp. [Accessed 21 Apr. 2018]